POLL: End Game Opinion of the Series

[torgeaux]

I didn't like the show, I found no "improvements" where it varied from the books, and frequently found the variations not just puzzling, but counterproductive in the extreme.

However, I am sad to see it ended, if for no other reason than I like the books, like Mr. Butcher's work as a rule and hate to see this link to more readers gone. 

[MonaLS]

What little of it I saw I liked, but I don't think I ever saw more than three or so episodes. Wish I could have seen more, and wish it could have continued. The books are fantastic.

[Mickey Finn]

"I found no "improvements" where it varied from the books"

I found one. While I like Bob from the books, I LOVE Hrothbert of Bainbridge.

Other than that, I pretty much agree.

[Darkling]

I found one. While I like Bob from the books, I LOVE Hrothbert of Bainbridge.

I feel the same way.  But anyone who has seen me rant and rave about Terrence Mann knows this.

[rummy556]

You know, it's days like this that I wish I had a ton of money laying around so that I could help shows like The Dresden Files continue into a long running series.  I would have loved to donate it to the producers to keep it going.   

It's seems incredibly unfair that Stargate SG-1 ran for so long and yet Dresden was axed so abruptly without giving anyone a chance to fully enjoy it.  Even Dead Zone is still running even though they had to move to a different network later on (they found a way to keep going which is fantastic). 

Heck, I never even saw the show until way after Christmas, it should have been on the air in September like all of the other shows that premiere at that time. 

The Dresden Files was by far one of the best series on television and it deserved to have had a chance to gain a much stronger fan base like Bones.  We really should have been blessed with 20 episodes rather than a measly 12, it didn't give us a chance to get become intimately familiar with it.

I'm keeping my fingers (and my toes) crossed for possible feature films or DVD movies of The Dresden Files.  I'm giddy as a school kid just thinking about it....

< Excellent post . i agree.


Edited to fix formatting.  --Priscellie

[Aluroon]

I'll be honest, when I started watching the show I was a hardcore book fan and was appalled by the changes. I was one of the people wishing the show would just die so that maybe, just maybe it could get rebooted at the real Dresden Files. I found myself asking how ti could be called the Dresden files when almost nothing seemed the same (including the Hockey Stick and Drum Stick). Eventually however it started to grow on me as the show got more settled into what it was, developed its own world, and so forth. By the end of Second City I was begging for more. Sadly there won't be anymore.

Oh well, thanks for the 12 episodes, I'll hang them on my shelf of great shows that never got a chance next to Firefly.

[MonaLS]

Well so far I've watched 10 episodes in the last 2 days, pretty cool!

[KoshN]

GREAT show. Loved it. AND it turned me onto the books. 

[Magus_Jasonius]

I liked the show. There were many aspects of it I liked or preferred, such as the office and the apartment being the same building, the hockey stick, etc.

[Lord of the Helm]

In general, I enjoyed it. I saw the show before I read the books, so I didn't have the problem of having to compare them, and in retrospect, it differs significantly enough from it that I can dissassociate the two from one another without a problem. I really liked the actors, and the dialogue was excellent. I LOVED TV Bob, an excellent rendition of the character. I didn't mind the hockey stick, and I still picture Harry's blasting rod as a drumstick whenever I read the books (though, granted, it was more like a sonic screwdriver in the series  ).

That said, there's a few things that I didn't think were that well-handled. I was mostly irritated that Harry just didn't seem to use enough magic - he seemed more like a paranormal private eye who casts the occasional spell now and then than an actual wizard. That, and I found the friendly neighborhood vampires and infecting-bite anthropomorphic werewolves a bit generic even before having read the books. Oh, and I couldn't help but think "What ever happened to that Susan", who came out of nowhere in Storm Front and was nowhere to be seen after.

All in all, an enjoyable series, and it got me into the books, which are the most enjoyable and engaging ones I've read in years.

[Terrormaster]

The TV series wasn't too bad for the most part. I had seen about 3 or so episodes before it got cancelled. The DVD was on my Christmas wishlist but I ended up buying it myself this year from Amazon (I try not to buy too many DVDs from BestBuy since they closed all our local Suncoast stores and it was the ONLY place that caried it local retail).

In the interim it had gotten me interested in the books which I haven' been able to put down since I started reading them this year.

After buying the DVD I made the mistake of going back and watching the two episodes that were based more directly on the books (Hair of the Dog and Storm Front) which I had missed when they aired. The rest of the series wasn't bad at all and I liked even the alternate universe thing. But those two episodes should not have been made.

I really didn't mind that their was stuff different from the books and that worked for me because there wasn't any adaptations of the stories from the books. But those two killed that for me. I'm actually having trouble getting myself motivated to watch the 3rd disc with the last 4 episodes.

That aside I still imagine Paul Blackthorne as Dresden and hear Terrance Mann snarky voice in my head whenever I read Bob's passages.

Considering Jim's anime influence I would LOVE to one day see a faithful anime adaptation of the books - especially in a Cowboy Bebop or Trinity Blood style seriousness with just the right amount of anime humor.

-TM

[purenightshade]

I quite enjoyed the series. I generally enjoy things that Robert Hewitt Wolfe has worked on. I do one day plan on reading the books and buying the DVDs, but where I live this isn't an easy thing to do. It was hard enough to find episode downloads of the show. Those have earned themselves a permanent place on my hard drive until I have the DVDs.
I admit, I'm having a really hard time getting myself to watch the last episode. It's showing on TV tomorrow night on Space and I'm just dreading it. I know it'll be good, but I can't bear to watch the end knowing that it's the end.

*sad*

[Freylin]

My wife and I are huge Dresden fans, have read all the books and can't wait for what comes next after Small Favor.  So, with this in mind we decided to rent Season 1 of the tv series.  Extremely disappointing.  I suppose if you had never read the books it might be okay, but after having read the entire series twice, we have definite mental pictures of all the characters and locations, Harry's mannerisms, his home, Bob, etc. 

The series fell way short of matching anything.  We will not be renting anymore of the series needless to say.  About the only thing we really enjoyed about it was picking it apart and pointing out the glaring inaccuracies.

[Amoracchius]

So about 8 percent of the people in this poll found the television series to be somewhat lacking. Not a surprise when you consider that most of us here are longtime fans of the books. The bottom line for me was that even though it was different from the books, it was better than 90 percent ( and I'm being generous ) of the shows on the Sci Fi channel. Wish it had a chance on one of the regular broadcast channels because I still believe it would have garnered all of the former Buffy fandom plus lots of other non-fannish folks who enjoy a good detective story and would find the magical aspects novel and entertaining.

[hkjakkie]

Add Monk fans and Psych fans. I saw the ad on T.V when I was watching Monk.
I grew up reading science fiction and mysteries. Add comedy and I usually will watch it
at least once. Then there is Reaper and Chuck.